To extract the essence or strength from something by heating or boiling; to create a decoction.
From Latin decocere 'to boil down,' from de- 'down' and coquere 'to cook.' Used in alchemy, herbal medicine, and early chemistry.
Medieval herbalists and alchemists decocted plants constantly—boiling them down to concentrate their supposed medicinal powers. The word bridges the gap between cooking and chemistry, showing how medicine used to be inseparable from both.
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